Anzac Day

Dear ANZAC families,

We remember you at this time too. Our wonderful @Magpie22 has written a post to you all. See above.

Hope you can take some time to read it.

We'd love to hear from you.

@Oaktree @goatlatte @RiverSeal @Azalea @Toowrite @Sir @NikooJalilvand @Ron64 @Ocean11 @Veronica6 @yggdrasil @Faz22 @EvR @AstroB @TipToe @Greentothebone @JJSmith @MatchaToad @AllAboutMissy @Radder @AloneBroken @Croix @OA_24 @AlexAble

Hi @Magpie22,

Thanks for your post, and of course your service.

It's such a profound movement to recognise the families and carers of veterans during this time, too. I'm hoping some of the users we have tagged have some insights to share, but I'll also see if @HelloKitty1981 has anything to add in this space? No pressure of course 🙂

Hope you were kind to yourselves over the weekend.

Hey @Magpie22 💚

Also thanks for the tag @tyme 💚

Thank you for sharing your family's traditions. It's so interesting how each generation finds its own way to participate. ANZAC Day always sits quite heavily with me because of my ancestors who served in wars, but also because I have a special interest in the history of WWI.

I actually spent some time processing those feelings through a poem. I was thinking a lot about how the impact of service isn't just felt on the battlefield, but also at the dinner tables and in the homes of those who returned.

@GalaxyGuide Thank you, sorry for the late reply I have been up working on job applications so my weekend has been a mixture of things, like a lot of other people over the weekend. For each person it can mean many different things, some happy, some sad, some remembering family and friends, past and present.

I know of friends who went and did the traditional thing of going to the dawn service, and paying their respects, then off to the pub for a beer and two-up, very much a tradition for a lot of people. She was a previous serving member in the Army.

Another friend, her dad was a veteran and they always went and marched on Anzac Day, unfortunately her dad passed only a few months ago so, it brought back a lot of emotions for her but she went and posted a tribute to him.

My husband always goes to the dawn service and pays his respects for his dad who serviced, and his memories of living of him as a child and other children who also had parents were also serving.

My son's father is a serving member and would be dressed in his dress uniform and at the dawn service as always, sometimes having a more active role on the day like having to speak, standing guard and marching. My son has been to quite a few dawn services with his dad over the years.

For him its a very mixtured emotional day, he is old enough to remember lots of things about his childhood other kids didn't have to experience with their parents, them being away on deployments and missing important days, experiences etc, yet growing up with his military friends and his back at home friends.

For me on a person level, it brings up an array of emotions, family generations who served and came home, not much older than my own son is now, those who never came home, but I have the family stories, research, photographs and medals.

Also being the animal lover that I am, the number of forgotten animals and the different types who were a part of the the war effort who never came home. Also all the things I learnt from school about modern history, visits to the war memorial in Canberra as a school excursion, seeing flowers at numerous war memorials around the surrounding local areas and towns in our health district, the fly over of the military jets, firing of the canon at the local fort in our region.

Watching of diggers, young and old, sometimes with the next generation marching in the streets and the people who turn out to acknowledge and pay their own personal respects by clapping and cheering

@HelloKitty1981thanks for replying - you have a lot of family connections to Anzac Day.

I think about the animals too. Last year I found beautiful paintings by an Australian artist focusing on Anzac Day

https://www.sandilear.com/anzac

@MatchaToad

if you are happy to share I’d love to read your poem

I often start to write poems in my head but I never put them on paper and really finish them

@Magpie22

Of course! More than happy to share it!

@MatchaToad

Ohhhhhh - that is beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks @Magpie22 for starting this thread and I apologise I'm a bit late to the discussion!

ANZAC Day is always a bit emotional for me but more so the past two as my father passed away in late 2024 sadly. I moved away from home at 20 years old and interstate so have lived away from my family for over 30 years (I'm that old!!) For a long time going to the Dawn Service was not on my radar as I worked hospitality and it was not always an option to go for various shift/sleep reasons. But for some time now I have been going each year, and it reminds me of being with my father who always explained what was happening and told stories about himself and our relatives who served.

Since he passed, I find it is a way to feel that real sense of closeness as I know how much it meant to him to be at the Dawn Service and that he would be happy and proud that I am there when he can't be. I also find that I get community out of attending both as a veteran family member but as a Melbournian in my city as I live quite close and have done so for many years (20+). I'm proud to be part of the crowd supporting the Welcome to Country too and glad that I can be there to support the indigenous veteran's.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with your peers and giving me this opportunity to reflect on ANZAC Day with the community!

RiverSeal ❤️